Perceiving a Downpour
From the protection of the restaurant’s outdoor canopy, Mia and I sighed as a sudden torrential downpour flooded our 6th street dinner table. Outdoor dining in New York City isn’t always glamorous, made clearly evident by the buoyant street trash sailing by our feet. The waitress placed a soaking wet check on the table, and with it came a realization that we had a long walk home through this rain. Simply put, our mood sank. 6 blocks to go with no umbrella on hand. Rain was about to put a damper on my freshly ironed t shirt and what had been a great day.
Perception shapes the world around us, acting as a lens through which we view reality. This lens is a culmination of our experiences, knowledge, emotions, preconceptions, and even genetic predispositions. A unique world is perceived through this view, usually without us even realizing it’s not reality. Our mind tends to practice complex mental gymnastics to arrive at its own immediate conclusions about what’s in front of us. Consider the animation below, even the angle one is looking at a real object completely changes the way it’s perceived.
Let’s look at the reality of our rainy predicament. The rain, in and of itself, is indifferent. It doesn’t consider how it’s interrupting someone’s dinner or even ruining my friend Nick Payne’s laptop when he left it outside last night. It simply exists. The rain is the reality in front of us. It’s not something we can control. Perception gave dark color to the clear water of the rain surrounding us, creating a different picture in our minds. The indifferent rain was transformed into a negative, a hindrance. Perception, however, is something we can always control. As I viewed the rain from my half-submerged chair, I realized it wasn’t the rain that was the issue, it was how I was looking at it. My perception was the culprit of my negativity.
In the stoic happiness triangle, one corner is called “Take Responsibility.” Every external event you don’t control offers a new area you can control, how you choose to respond to the event. When looking at our attitudes and emotions, it’s not the events themselves that make us feel a certain way. Our interpretation of those events brings us to those feelings of fulfillment, happiness, or sadness.
“It’s raining! I can’t believe I have to walk home in that, my clothes are going to be soaked!”
Turned into :
“It’s raining! I can’t believe I have to walk home in that, let’s enjoy it! Not everyday I can run around in the rain quite like this.”
The perception of the rain quickly turned positive, I gave Mia my phone to keep dry in her bag and I laughed the whole way home. Who cares if my clothes get wet? I’ll just dry them off when I get back. What a wonder rain is, water falling from the sky through clouds gifting the Earth with it’s fresh water supply. The stress of getting home as dry as possible shifted into an excitement to take part in the wonders of nature. The comfortable tune of droplets on pavement became music to my ears as I closed my eyes and let the rain fall on my face outside my front door. I will never forget that walk home. A hindrance became a pleasure, all through a simple and intentional shift in perspective.
Take a look at the image below, what do you see?
This is known as the “Duckrabbit,” an optical illusion meant to challenge our perception. Initially, you most likely saw the Duckrabbit as either a duck or a rabbit. The key word here is “as.” In seeing something as something, we are interpreting what’s in front of us. In this case, that’s not the reality. When we take a step back and see that it is a Duckrabbit, a combination of the two potential perceptions, we’ve found the reality of the image. The reality can only be seen when our initial perception is challenged, and we search deeper for the truth.
This got me thinking, what other parts of life could be handled better and enjoyed deeper if we chose to challenge our perceptions and seek reality? What happens when each of us strive toward alignment between the two? For example, consider the political climate of today. Everyone sees the country and government structure through their unique perception colored by innumerable factors. From my own experience, politics has become quite a toxic subject area to discuss as each person believes their view is closest to reality and truer than their neighbor’s. How are we supposed to continuously learn and improve if we quickly shut out anyone who may disagree with us? What if each of us approached conversations, regardless of how sensitive they may be, with the intention to listen, to challenge our urge to judge or interrupt based on our perceptions? How would the world be different if we allowed ourselves to approach everyone’s perceptions with compassion and respect?
Moving forward, where do we start? We may begin by challenging our own perceptions. Get to know yourself deeper and the patterns in your perceptions will reveal themselves. Don’t hold on to your own perceptions too tightly, it’s always possible they could use some polishing. Have the courage to admit your mistakes without deflection or excuses. Respect the perceptions of others, you may be surprised by what you learn. Above all else, allow yourself a second look at the reality present when life rains down on you.
Remember, you always have the power to decide how you’ll walk through the rain of life.
Optimistically,
Jon
